Cable giant Charter Communications added to the headwinds facing the traditional cable TV sector by continuing to lose broadband and video customers during the fourth quarter.
The company lost 177,000 broadband customers to finish 2024 with 30.1 million subscribers. That reduction followed rival Comcast a day earlier reporting its total domestic broadband customer net losses came to 139,000 for the fourth quarter of 2024.
Charter, which does business under the Spectrum brand name, also lost 123,000 video subscribers in the fourth quarter, against a year-earlier loss of 257,000 customers, and ended 2024 with 12.9 million subscribers. Those losses were due in part to hurricane impacts and the end of Affordable Connectivity Program government subsidies for low-income households.
Charter will reveal the impact of the recent Los Angeles wildfires on its networks and California subscribers when reporting financials for its current first quarter.
Charter, Comcast and other legacy cable giants face increasing competition from YouTube and other streaming-era competitors to reach and retain TV viewers. Charter added 529,000 mobile line subscribers during the quarter, just down from 546,000 new customers added during the same period last year. Charter serves 9.9 million mobile lines, with 2.1 million lines added last year.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 1.6 percent to $13.9 billion, lifted in part by higher political revenue, while net income attributable to shareholders came to $1.5 billion for the three-month period.
“As we look at 2025 and beyond, the environment for broadband, mobile and video remains competitive, but we have better visibility than this time last year” Chris Winfrey, president and CEO of Charter, told analysts during a Friday morning conference call as his company looks to new packaging of mobile, video and Internet services for better subscriber value.
